Political Attitudes

It's often been said and does seem to be true: Americans seem almost instinctively to dislike government and politicians. They especially tend to dislike "those fools in Washington" who spend their tax money and are always trying to "interfere" in their local and private concerns. Many would no doubt agree with the statement that the best government is the one that governs least. In a 1984 poll, for example, only a fourth of those asked wanted the federal government to do more to solve the country's problems. Neighbourhoods, communities, and states have a strong pride in their ability to deal with their problems themselves, and this feeling is especially strong in the West.

Americans are seldom impressed by government officials (they do like royalty, as long as it's not theirs). They distrust people who call themselves experts. They don't like being ordered to do anything. For example, in the Revolutionary War (1776-83) and in the Civil War (1861-65), American soldiers often elected their own officers. In their films and fiction as well as in television series, Americans often portray corrupt politicians and incompetent officials. Anyone who wants to be President, they say with a smile, isn't qualified. Their newsmen and journalists and television reporters are known the world over for "not showing proper respect" to governmental leaders, whether their own or others. As thousands of foreign observers have remarked, Americans simply do not like authority.

Many visitors to the US are still surprised by the strong egalitarian tendencies they meet in daily life. Americans from different walks of life, people with different educational and social backgrounds, will often start talking with one another "just as if they were all equal." Is everybody equal in the land that stated - in the eyes of God and the law - that "all men are created equal?" No, of course not. Some have advantages of birth, wealth, or talent. Some have been to better schools. Some have skins or accents or beliefs that their neighbours don't especially like. Yet the ideal is ever-present in a land where so many different races, language groups, cultural and religious beliefs, hopes, dreams, traditional hates and dislikes have come together.

All in all, what do Americans think of their system of government? What would "We the People" decide today? One American, a Nobel Prize winner in literature, gave this opinion: "We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and at the same time we are deeply convinced that it is the best government in the world, and we would like to impose it upon everyone else."

Of course, many of today's 240 million Americans would disagree in part or with all. "Who is this one American," they might ask, "to speak for all of us?"

III. Courts in Great Britain and the usa

1. Read the text "Courts in England and Wales" and make comments on it.

Courts in England and Wales (Part I)

Criminal offences may be grouped into three categories. Offences tribal only on indictment — the very serious offences such as murder, manslaughter, rape and robbery — are tried only by the Crown Court presided over by a judge sitting with a jury. Summary offences — the least serious offences and the vast majority of criminal cases — are tried by unpaid lay magistrates sitting without a jury. A third category of offences (such as theft, burglary, or malicious wounding) are known as 'either way' offences and can be tried either by magistrates or by the Crown Court depending on the circumstances of each case and the wishes of defendant.

In addition to dealing with summary offences and the ‘either way’ offences which are entrusted to them, the magistrates' courts commit to the Crown Court either for trial or for sentence. Committals trial either of indictable offences or of 'either way' offences, which have been determined, will be tried in the Crown Court. Committals for sentence occur when the defendant in an 'either way' case has been tried summarily but the court has decided to commit him or her to the Crown Court for sentence.

Magistrates must as a rule sit in open court to which the public and the media are admitted. A court normally consists of three lay magistrates — known as justices of the peace — advised on points of law and procedures by a legally qualified clerk or a qualified assistant. Magistrates are appointed by the Lord Chancellor, except in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside where appointments are made by the Duchy of Lancaster. There are nearly 28,000 lay magistrates.